Tips for arranging college tours

The best way to arrange a college tour is to involve your teen in the process. You might leave the Fisk guide in the bathroom and they will take a look while they are in there.
They should try to choose a large school, a small school, a rah-rah school, an artsy school, even if they might not think they will like it. Just something that is representative in every category; rural and urban.
When you get on the tour, you might expect to have meltdowns; moments when the kid will not leave the car because of dislike of an archway, or a campus tradition or it's raining or because the tour guide has ugly shoes or too many Harry Potter references.
If you expect a bonding experience with your teen, it's going to be a wild ride, but it's a lot of fun. Also, expect your GPS to breakdown and recalculate all the time. You will get lost.

JD Rothman

Author, Blogger & College Pundit

JD Rothman, the author of the L.A. Times bestseller The Neurotic Parent's Guide to College Admissions, started her popular satirical blog TheNeuroticParent.com while on an eight-state college tour with her older son. She frequently appears on panels with admission officers, and blogs about the insanity of the college process for the Huffington Post. A former instructor of remedial freshman composition, Rothman's day job is as an Emmy-winning children's television writer, producer and lyricist, but she also has a famous blog satirizing the college admissions process, www.theneuroticparent.com. In 2012 the blog morphed into the LA Times Bestseller, "The Neurotic Parent's Guide to College Admissions." She grew up in Brooklyn, and resided in several Latin American countries before settling in Santa Monica, where she and her husband live in their emptying nest. She prepared for none of her careers in college.

The best way to arrange a college tour is to involve your teen in the process. You might leave the Fisk guide in the bathroom and they will take a look while they are in there.
They should try to choose a large school, a small school, a rah-rah school, an artsy school, even if they might not think they will like it. Just something that is representative in every category; rural and urban.
When you get on the tour, you might expect to have meltdowns; moments when the kid will not leave the car because of dislike of an archway, or a campus tradition or it's raining or because the tour guide has ugly shoes or too many Harry Potter references.
If you expect a bonding experience with your teen, it's going to be a wild ride, but it's a lot of fun. Also, expect your GPS to breakdown and recalculate all the time. You will get lost.